plastic-egg-craft

Plastic Eggs — Transform for Your Decor

Over the years I have somehow acquired more plastic Easter eggs than any one person should have. From having them for Jake, using them for classroom projects with the kids, I probably have close to 100 eggs. They vary in size and quality, but truth is…I hate them. Don’t get me wrong, they certainly have their main purpose — candy and crafts, but for my own decor purposes I was never happy with them. I will probably dye real eggs at some point (by myself because no one else in the house appreciates that sort of thing) but I really wanted to find something else to do with the plastic eggs. Something I could reuse each year that looked less bright and vivid and more pastel and pretty.

plastic eggs

I love decorating for spring and Easter. My mom did too, which is one of the reasons I enjoy it so much. But those eggs, something had to be done. I looked on Pinterest and found some great tutorials and ideas on what I could possibly do to make these eggs a little more attractive. It wasn’t about finding the easiest or even the cheapest project. It was about changing the existing eggs I already had. I had people messaging me, telling me I should just use wooden eggs, or paper mache eggs because it was easier. It wasn’t about being easy; I wanted to use what I had.

plastic-eggs-crafts

One post in particular seemed like it might work for what I wanted to do, from The V Spot blog. This was for making the plastic eggs more like robin’s eggs (which it did and was amazing). I was okay with having some more pastel, lighter colors. They didn’t have to look real. What I did take away from the tutorial was I had to go find some textured spray paint. If you haven’t used this stuff, it is a must-have for my spray paint collection. Not sure why I never tried it, but I hadn’t and I wish I had sooner. This stuff is great not only if you want to add texture to something, but it also hides textures you don’t want seen — like the seam of a plastic egg.

This is not a project you can knock out in a day. It’s a project to set up in the garage and leave it so you can spray a layer of spray paint and leave it and go do something else for a couple of hours. I am not a patient person and this was hard for me.

For my project, I ended up using spray paint only — several different kinds, but nothing but spray paint. This just worked better for me. The finished result was just what I was hoping for. Perfect? No. But I love seeing these little eggs in my 3 tier display on my table. I was also able to reuse the eggs I already had, which makes me happy.

plastic-eggs

For this project, you will need:

textured spray paint (I used Rustoleum American Accents, stone textured finish, in stone pebble) The link provided here is for gray stone, which will work just fine, you probably want to stick with something light in tint to look more natural
plastic eggs
adhesive that will adhere to plastic (I used E6000)
surface you can spray paint on (I started with a plastic tarp and ended up going with scrap plywood)
spray paint of any color that adheres to plastic
spray paint in whatever colors you want your eggs to be. I chose several pastel colors I already had.

plastic eggs
1. First thing you’ll need to do is glue your two egg halves together. Make sure they are closed tightly. I actually used a pair of tiny clamps to hold some of my eggs together while they were drying because the fit was a little off. Allow the glue to dry before the next step.
plastic eggs
2. Spray your eggs with spray paint (whatever color, it doesn’t really matter). Your spray paint needs to adhere to plastic, otherwise your eggs will chip, crack and/or peel. This takes several coats, you’ll have to turn the eggs a couple of times. I suggest painting on cardboard or plywood you aren’t using. The eggs kept sticking to the plastic and became a hassle. I ended up switching along the way. Make sure the paint is dry before you roll them over to spray the other side. Be sure to hold the textured spray too close to the eggs or the textured spray will disperse from where you are spraying. That also happens if your spray isn’t completely dry from the previous coat.
plastic eggs
3. Use the textured spray paint and spray your eggs. I put this egg on an empty bottle to show the texture a little better. Use light coats of the textured spray paint. It was rainy the whole week I did this project and sometimes it would take the paint forever to dry. But if you can be patient and be sure paint is dry before flipping the eggs, you will save a lot of time. You will need to do several layers of the textured spray. The more layers you spray, the more the seams of the eggs will be hidden.

getting-started
4. Once your egg is completely covered and dried to your satisfaction, gently, lightly spray whatever color of spray paint you want your eggs to be. I used short bursts of spray paint, this got the light color I wanted, instead of one solid somewhat darker color. I grouped mine and then sprayed several different groups/colors at one time. I forgot to take a photo of just the spray paint and nothing else on the eggs. Sorry!
textured-easter-eggs
5. Once your eggs are thoroughly dry and the colors you want them to be, lightly (short bursts again) spray some of the textured spray onto your eggs to give it a little speckled look. These eggs are a light sage green color, which I was super happy with.

Don’t worry if you mess up and over spray either your egg color or the textured spray on top of that. Just keep alternating your color and the textured spray paint until you get the mix you’re happy with. I messed up several times and while I had to wait for my mistakes to dry, I think it helped cover the middle seam a little better because there was more paint. So you really can’t mess this up. It’s a little trial and error, but once you get the hang of it, it’s pretty easy.
Yes, there’s a lot of spraying and learning the short burst technique using the spray paint, but for me, it was perfect. I wasn’t on a deadline and I just tried to take my time. The hardest part is making sure your coats are 100% dry before flipping or spraying another coat.

This was a fun project (they always are when you get the result you want, right?) I will definitely reuse these eggs next year assuming they hold up okay with time and temperature change out in the garage. We shall see. I was also thinking about doing another batch and maybe gluing the eggs to a grapevine wreath for the door. Happy spring!!!!!

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